Walking the Dust
by El-Jorro
Summary: A young woman from a rigid and structured life is unceremoniously thrown into a world without rules. This is her quest. Review Please
1. Prologue: End and Beginning

This is a playthrough fanfic. I know it has been done before but I really want to write out my own Fallout adventure. So here is the beginning:

Constructive Criticism greatly appreciated. Particularly on the writing style

Prologue: Endings and Beginnings

July 13 2258. Project Purity, Jefferson Memorial

James walked into his…their room at Project Purity. Tears were streaming down his face. "Catherine" He barely whispered. He still couldn't believe it was real. His beloved wife so full of passion, so full of life was gone. Losing control, James buried his face in his hands and sobbed unashamedly, his shoulders heaving with sobs.

In what seemed like hours later, James looked up and seemed to finally notice the crib in the room and the tiny, cooing bundle within, Verea, their daughter. Catherine was so excited when she found out she was pregnant. It invigorated James and every other member of Project Purity. It gave them a new reason for their work. There was a new generation coming who would need Project Purity. But then like everything in the hellish, god-forsaken Capitol Wasteland, every good thing seemed to wither and turn to the ever-persistent dust that pervades this boneyard of a city. Catherine died during childbirth. What should have been a joyous beginning turned into a tragic ending. She only had time to name their daughter, and say her husband's name one more time before she entered the void.

James walks over to the crib and picks up the tiny breathing bundle. Only a few hours old, yet she already looks like her mother. His heart ached just looking at her. But he had to get over it. His daughter needed him, so at that moment…"I swear I will honor my wife's legacy and raise this child right." Sensing her father's discontent Verea began to whimper. "Its all right honey, Daddy's right here" and she quieted down, James set her down back in her crib. "This place means the world to me, but my daughter means more. As much as love this place it is no place for an infant." At that moment, Madison Li walked into the room. Her face too, was red and tearstrained, for she and Catherine were good friends.

"James I'm so sorry"

"I know"

"I miss her"

"Me too"

"If you need anything just let me-"

"Madison I need to be alone right now" James snapped. "Okay, I'll be with the others if you need me" and she exited on the room. James slumped down in a chair. He wouldn't know how he would tell the team, but he had too, eventually. He sighed, " I wonder if Vault 101 could use a doctor."


	2. The Birth of a Commando

Sorry for the long wait Finals and Whatnot.

Fallout 3 property of Bethesda and Interplay

10 years later. Vault 101: The Commando is Born

10 years had passed since the death of his beloved wife. James was satisfied with his life if not completely happy. He still missed Catherine greatly…her gentle touch, her beautiful laugh, and his bed was so cold these days. But it was not about him…it was about their daughter Verea. (Pronounced Vary-ah)

Ahhh…Verea, their little girl she was growing up so fast. She looked like a perfect blend of father and mother. She had his hair but she had her mother's face and eyes. And personality…she was almost the spitting image of Catherine. She was pretty, lithe, and very smart. She was also feisty. Occasionally when she and James would get into fights, James would smile despite himself because Verea reminded him of how fiery Catherine was when they were younger.

Verea had a tendency to get into fights; of course it was almost particularly with Butch Deloria and his little gang of troublemakers. It was probably due to this tendency that Verea developed and interesting personality quirk. She was extremely interested in violence. While other girls were reading old pre-war cookbooks for the soldier's wife. Verea was reading about the soldiers on the front lines. Guns and ammo, offense and defense, swords and spears, karate and boxing, Verea ate it all up. Combat was her med-x. Not that Verea was a violent person. Oh no she was very compassionate. One time she helped Old Lady Palmer with cooking and cleaning for two weeks when she sprained her ankle. Of course the next day after that she single-handedly beat a security guard who was mocking Palmer by sweeping his legs out from under him and putting him in a headlock. Overall…most people in the Vault, except for the Overseer and Butch's gang found her to be and intelligent, likable, child who was just fascinated with the art of war. In fact Sun Tzu's The Art of War was one of her favorites.

Yes James loved his daughter. And like a good parent he tried to encourage his daughter's interests. He thought that now was a good time for Verea to be introduced to combat.

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy B-day!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Verea stood smiling a she saw the balloons and streamers. Yes, it was her tenth birthday. She suspected it the minute she stepped into the dark cafeteria. "Wow! Thanks everybody" She looked around and saw all of her friends both young and old. Amata Almodovar her very best friend, Old man Stanley who could make anything from anything, Officer Gomez who taught all she wanted to know about martial arts, as well as the rest of the Vault Children. Last but not least her father James, the Vault Physician. Verea was sure it was his idea for this party all along.

"Happy Birthday Honey! My, my ten years old if only your mother could see you now!"

"I know Dad I know" Said Verea smiling sweetly.

"Happy Birthday Youngster!" Vault 101's Overseer, Alphonse Almodovar strode over. "10 years old! This is a very special day for tomorrow you begin your first vault responsibilities." He said in a very no nonsense matter. Verea forced herself to listen. She and the Overseer had had a, shall we say a mutually antagonistic relationship. The same seemed to be true for her father as well. It had been going on for three years ever since her third grade science fair when she added a tad too much ethanol to her science project and burned the Overseer.

"Today's also the day you receive your own pip-boy 3000." Now Verea paid attention for she always wanted her own pip-boy.

"Here you are miss"

"Thank you Overseer"

When Alphonse Turned around a few minutes later his smile was replaced by a scowl.

Verea eagerly accepted the Pip-Boy 3000. She then placed it on her wrist and immediately felt the Biometric Fields seal it to her wrist permanently seal it to her skin unless she and she alone decided to remove it. The tiny computer immediately began to monitor her health, radiation level and location. Another interesting feature of the device was inventory. It showed that she was wearing a Child's Vault Suit, had two pencils in her pants pocket, and a bobby pin in her shirt pocket. She walked over to her cake continuing to fiddle with the inventory feature. The pip boy suddenly detected one of the party hats and the words "select item to be stored." Verea scratched her head. "How can this thing store items?" She shrugged and pressed the button. Suddenly a green laser shot out of the end of the device. It surrounded the party hat and it disappeared. "Data Scanned" appeared on the screen and the hat was displayed in the inventory. Awesome.

She pressed select on the party hat and felt it materialize on her head. "Now I'll never have to lug my textbooks around again." She quickly proceeded to scan all of her presents into the pip-boy. Her Grognak the Barbarian, her baseball cap and various other trinkets, she decided to eat the sweet roll Old Lady Palmer gave to her on account of Andy the Robot ruining her cake. But just as she was about to take a bite she heard a voice cry out.

" I'm hungry and that stupid robot ruined the cake! Gimme that Sweet Roll!" It was Butch Deloria: Vault Delinquent and Nemesis of Verea.

"Its mine Butch" Ordinarily Verea would have done a right hook to his jaw, but it was her birthday and she was in no mood to fight. "Look the only reason I came to this stupid party was because my mom made me! Now gimme that sweet roll!" Okay now she was in the mood. "What's wrong Butchie? Did mommy drink up all the rations again?"

"That's it!"

Butch and his little club surrounded Verea…intent on teaching her a lesson. Unfortunately for them Verea's combat skills would make short work of them. The fight in sued, Verea landing punches before they knew what hit them. Fortunately or unfortunately Officer Mack intervened. "Come on Butch, fighting on the girls birthday." Under different circumstances Verea would have tried to continue but like she said…it was her birthday.

"You all right Honey?" James asked

" I'm fine Dad"

"Don't let people like Butch push you around. Once they start they never stop. Anyhow lets go down to see Jonas in the reactor room, we have another gift for you."

"Really another one!'

"Yes and you are going to love it. Come on now. I'll meet you down there"

Verea strode into the corridor, which by unfortunate happenstance, Beatrice the Vault Mentally Unstable Individual strode up. Verea tried to hurry past her hoping she was just taking a stroll. No such luck. "Oh hello dear I'm sorry I missed your party." Verea froze and turned around with a faked smile on her face. "Beatrice Hi!"

"Hear is your present, it's a poem! I hope you like it"

"Ahhhh Thank you!" She said still wearing that faked grin and turned around. Thankfully Beatrice turned around and left at that time. Reading the poem later on, she found it had nothing to do with her birthday and more about life in the Vault so to speak.

Running along the hallway, she stopped at the stairs just in time to hear the overseer speaking with a security guard one level up. "Give them a few more minutes, then clear them out and send everyone back to work. The only reason I even stopped in is because my daughter is friends with that brat."

Verea shrugged and muttered, "Yeah, Yeah love you too" and continued down the corridor.

When she reached the reactor level. She found Jona's shuffling through some crates. "What are you doing down here? Kids aren't allowed on this level."

Jonas had been his dad's assistant for years, and was like the brother she never had. "Very funny Jona's, Dad said that there was a present down here."

"As a matter a fact there is"

As if on queue James strode in. "Hello honey I suppose you want to know what that gift is?"

"Yes please"

"Well here it is your own BB-Gun, it was in pretty bad shape when we found it. Took as a long time to find all the parts. Good thing Butch 'misplaced' that switchblade of his. heh heh" But Verea heard nothing of this she was still staring at the BB-Gun as is she was looking upon the face of Christ. A gun of her very own, it was a dream come true. Reaching out very slowly, she managed to sqeak "Th-Thank you! This is awesome!"

"We have one more surprise for you" Jonas walked over to what looked like a storage closet but when he opened the door. Verea beheld a small shooting range. We set this up for you so you could…but Jonas didn't get a chance to finish because Verea had already disappeared into the closet/range. Chuckling James and Jonas followed her into the space

'Ptchoo' 'Clang!' Verea hit a new target with her Red Ryder BB-Gun. James and Jonas both applauded. "Good Shot" said Jonas

"Look out it's a radroach"

Verea smirked, she saw the cage to the side of the target range. Jonas must have caught it a few days ago. Nonetheless she swooped in for the kill and with three shots she disposed of the roach.

"Good job honey"

Verea then swung the gun around her waist and blew on the end of the barrel. You've been watching those spaghetti westerns again haven't you" James asked.

"Maybe" she said rolling her eyes innocently.

"Jonas can we get a picture with the big game hunter?"

"Sure thing James"

Verea holstered the gun and strode up next to her father "Smile!" As the bulb flashed Verea knew that this would be a birthday to remember for a long time.

Review Please!!!!


	3. Exodus

I don't own anything

Italics means thinking

Chapter 2: Exodus

Verea was walking through the Vault. But it was deserted and an odd mist prevailed over the hallways. A figure in white was darting through the hallways just beyond her sight.

"Hey wait up!" She called to the figure, but it continued on its way. Verea ran after it. "wait" she called desperately. The figure did not comply. Verea rounded a corner and came face to face with a familiar figure.

"Mr. Brotch!?"

"Congratulations Verea Looks like the diner's going to get a new Fry Cook. I'll just say this once: hold the mustard, extra pickles. Ha ha ha. Seriously though, Fry cook is a good job and one your going to do the rest of your life." Then he faded away.

Verea gasped and turned around and saw the Overseer. "Rules is what makes this Vault prosper! You must follow the guidelines set by the Overseer no matter what!"

She then heard her fathers voice: " I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. It's a bright future for you honey what kind of person are you going to be?"

Verea didn't have time to comtemplate this as the walls seemed to contract around her. She had had these attacks before while she was growing up where it seemed that the rock that Vault 101 was built around seemed to contract all around her. Where it seemed she could take no more it all stopped. The figure in white was standing in front of her.

"Its time" it, she? Said. Verea started to look up…

"WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP!!! You've go to wake up!!!

Verea yelped and jumped out of her bed. Amata was standing over her with a look of intense panic on her face.

"What's going on Amata?"

"Its your father, he's gone!!!"

"Whaddya mean he's gone!!!"

"He's gone! I mean he just disappeared. He's left the Vault! I don't know how. My Dad's gone crazy. When he tried to interrogate Jonas and he didn't know he ordered the guards too…too… Oh God!"

HE KILLED HIM!!! HE WILL BURN!!!!

"That Bastard! I'll-"

"There's no time for that! The guards are coming after you! You need to escape the Vault and find your father! I can help you!"

"You're right I need to find him!"

Amata nodded and handed Verea a 10mm Pistol.

"Here, I stole this from my father's office. It might come in handy."

"I couldn't agree more" said Verea checking the gun's sight, checking the clip and finally strapping it to her thigh.

"Okay I have a plan that can help you escape. There is a secret tunnel in my father's office. You'll have to hack the computer to access it. I'll try to meet you at the exit. Good luck Verea."

"Meet you there" Verea said to Amata's back as she left the room.

"I've got to get out of here!"

Verea rushed over to her desk. She typed into her Pip-boy and immediately began to scan the various items into her inventory, her baseball bat, baseball, Grognak the Barbarian, cap and her prized BB-Gun. She then moved over to the dresser and cleaned out some spare clothes.

The alarms were going full blast outside her door. Verea slipped outside, luckily she knew the way to the Overseer's office due to her many discinplinary hearings over the years. She broke off into a brisk walk down the corridor when suddenly…"Hey You! Stop! It was one of the Vault Security Force, charging at her with a baton in hand.

"Stop in the name of the Overseer!"

Without missing a beat, Verea summoned up her baseball and stepped up to plate. The guard charged her and she brought the bat down hard on hi shoulder. The armor prevented permanent damage but it was enough to stun him. The guard yelped in pain and brought his baton on her thigh. Uttering a war cry Verea brought the bat onto the guard's head and he crashed unconscious to the floor.

Verea winced as she rubbed the place where the Baton had hit her.

"Oooh that stings" she hissed "I don't think this Vault Suit is going to cut it."

She dragged the unconscious guard back into her quarters. After making sure he was out of it, she began to strip him of his armor using her Pip-boy scanning laser. After scanning it all in she switched from her Vault Suit to Vault Security Armor and Helmet.

Feeling all protected now she emerged back inside the hallway and proceeded down her original course.

A twinge of pain shot up her leg. She yelped! A radroach was chewing on her ankle. The radroach was soon colliding with the wall after Verea kicked it off her foot. She turned around and saw two more roaches spitting at her. Deciding not to waste the 10mm ammo she quickly dispatched of the roaches with her baseball bat. She continued on.

Verea rounded a corner and saw Officer Kendall heading toward her.

"Maybe he won't recognize me in this armor"

"Stop Verea!" _Guess not _

Officer Kendall ran towards her, intent on subduing her, but suddenly.

"AAARRRGGHH!!!" He screamed as three radroaches began attacking him. He swung frantically with his baton and stomping his foot crushing the head of one, swatting away another. The battle raged on until…"Ha! Ha! Got them all you sons of bitches! Now as for you missy, in the name of the Overseer I-" WHACK!!! "thud" Verea had slinked into the shadows during Kendall's epic battle and snuck behind him, and hit him over the head with her bat.

"Thanks Kenny" while proceeding to loot his body. She then glanced at the dead roaches. "You'll probably need some food out there" the logical part of her mind said. But the part of her brain in charge of her digestive system said: "Its radioactive bug meat" in the end the logical part won out and despite her stomach churning with the though of it, she cut out a pound of meat from the roaches.

After storing the meat in her pip-boy Verea rounded a corner and ran headlong into Butch Deloria. His usually fine hair was a mess and who looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"You gotta help me! My moms in trouble, she's trapped with the radroaches."

Verea crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow "Butch Deloria asking me for help, if you only knew what irony meant"

"l know I've been a jerk. I'm sorry, You know I didn't mean any of it! Please just save my mom!"

Verea sighed and pinched her nose between her eyes. She always hated Butch, from her tenth birthday party from the fight outside the G.O.A.T. classroom. And there were telltale signs of him becoming a drunk just like his mother. Still she couldn't just leave Ellen to die. She had always been okay…if intoxicated.

"All right I'll help. But!" holding up one finger, "for HER not you!"

"Oh thank you thank you!" Butch looked like he was about to hug her which she really hoped was just a look.

"Come on there's no time to lose"

Butch led her to his quarters. She could hear Ellen Deloria screaming in pain and fear as well as hearing the squeaks of the radroaches. Without missing a beat Verea summoned her BB gun and entered the room. While a BB-Gun would only annoy anything bigger than a housecat, it did quick work of the Radroaches.

"You did it! You saved my mom you're the best friend I ever had!"

"Don't mention it" she coldly replied after putting away her BB-Gun and gathering up the Radroach meat.

"Here, You can have my Tunnel Snakes jacket as a reward. Again thanks for-

"Attention Verea has escaped her quarters. Any sighting of the woman must be reported to Vault Security immediately"

"I'd better go" Verea said taking the jacket. As she walked out of the room she heard: "Can I get you anything Mom?"

"I need a drink" Verea shook her head.

The alarms blaring reminded her that she needed to keep moving. She needed to meet up with Amata. Taking a detour through the diner she came up upon a horrifying sight.

"Oh my God, Grandma Taylor" she said falling to her knees. This was her first corpse, Grandma Taylor wasn't asleep, she wasn't unconscious like the guards, she was dead. Tears welled up in Verea's eyes. This was the first time she had truly seen death.

ZIINNG!!! Verea picked up hot plate from a table and hurled at the guard who shot at her. Perfect hit.

She folded up Grandma Taylor's hands and proceeded to loot the Diner. She took hot plates, the toaster as well cups and silverware. She didn't know what she was going to face on the outside, so she needed every resource she could get. She considered looting Grandma Taylor's corpse but she decided to leave the body in peace.

Leaving the diner Verea heard a familiar voice. "Die Roaches Die" it was Andy the Mr. Handy, torching the radroaches with his flamethrower. Decided it should be safe to pass she pressed on only to come face to face with another Vault Guard. She raised her new police baton.

"Woah kid I am not going to fight you! You're lucky it was me who found you the other's won't be so forgiving" It was Officer Gomez. Verea sighed in relief she always like Officer Gomez, he was one of her few friends in the whole damned Vault.

"Officer Gomez…she started out calmly. But then her frustration began to boil over.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU LET THEM KILL JONAS!!!!"

"I couldn't do anything I wasn't there at the time! Look I don't know what your up to and I don't want to know. Just Clear out and I'll pretend I never saw you"

Verea sighed "Thanks Officer Gomez I always liked you"

"You take care and I hope you find your daddy"

Verea patted him on the shoulder and proceeded up the stairs. She proceeded past her Dad's office.

"Maybe he left a note or something" Verea optimistically thought. Upon entering the office she saw Stanley sitting in corner muttering to himself. Ignoring him Verea proceeded to loot the medical center for supplies. She didn't find much, only a handful of stimpacks.

"I'll see you around Stan" The man showed no sign that she had heard him.

* * *

Bootfalls echoed in the hallway as the young woman dashed down the hallway. She hadn't encountered any more security thank goodness. Panting she opened the door to the Vault atrium. What she beheld enraged her beyond reason.

"My name is Tom Holden and I demand to be let through!"

"TOM NO!!!"

BLAM BLAM BLAM!!!!!

Tom Holden had rushed the security barricade the guards gunned him down. When his wife tried to help they gunned her down as well.

Howling in rage. "MURDERERS!!!" Verea's caring for her former neighbors vanished and she raised her gun and charged. The guards raised their own guns but Verea was too fast. She knocked the gun out of the hand of one of the guards, and shot him in the face. She then ducked and shot the other guard. The two guards fell to the ground dead. Verea looted the bodies with a sneer.

"Good Riddance" Ptchoo! Spitting on the bodies.

A hissing sound snapped her out of her blood rage. No less than five radroaches were crawling over the stairs. She made quick work of the radroaches with her new police baton. When she tried to move on a sharp pain stopped her. She looked down and saw a cut on her hip. Grimacing with the revelation that a bullet must have grazed her, she quickly summoned a stimpack and stuck it into a vein. She could literally feel the healing juices flowing through her body. Satiated, she pressed on.

* * *

Bonk Bonk Bonk "Hey You!" Verea turned around on the upper floor of the atrium.

"This is your fault! You and your damned father" Verea gave him the finger and tuned out the resulting profanity.

A gasp ranged out in the maintanence room outside the Atrium. Verea had seen her second dead body. Floyd Lewis this time. She didn't know him that well, but she knew he was a friendly repair man and generally liked by the Vault Residents.

"So long Floyd" said Verea saluting the body. Verea noticed his toolbox sitting nearby, which she looted and after a moment's hesitation decide to take Floyd's suit as well.

"_Maybe it will give me luck when I need to repair something"_

* * *

Verea rounded a corner. If one thought the murders of the Holden's made her blood boil what she saw then turned it to magma. Through a window she saw Amata being interrogated by Officer Mack and the Overseer.

Howling like an animal, Verea charged into the room and sank three slugs into Officer Mack's head. Seeing the opportunity Amata made her escape.

"GUARDS GUARDS!!!!" Alphonse the Overseer screamed. But Verea quickly sank her fist into the side of his face, and he fell to the ground unconscious. Verea dashed into the Almadovar's quarters. She saw Amata crying at the table.

"Thank you for stopping them, I have never seen my father like that!"

"How do you put up with that psycho as your father!!!" Amata rose. "He may have his problems but he is still my Dad!!" The two woman glared at each other for a heartbeat.

Amata shook her head. "look we don't have time for this you have to keep moving!"

"I agree, I'll try to meet you at the Vault Entrance."

"See you there I hope"

On her way out Verea noticed some bobby pins on the dresser. Knowing that they could be used to pick locks she decided to grab them.

* * *

Jonas Palmer was one of Verea's best friends, him and Amata. He was like the brother Verea never had. He would help her with her homework, watch movies with her and would catch radroaches to shoot with her BB-Gun. He was kind, caring, and had a great laugh.

But now that laughter was gone, silenced forever by a guard's baton. Verea knelt by Jona's head, his eyes open, frozen in fear. Tears streaming down her face, Verea closed his eyes.

"Bastards, bastards, bastards…" she repeated over and over again. But no amount of cursing would bring her friend back. The alarms still blared, but Verea couldn't hear them at all. Her friend was gone and never coming her back. Opening tear strand eyes, Verea noticed a holotape in his pocket with her name on it. Snuffling on her sleeve, she reached over and took the disk. But fate would have her listen to it another time. For as she picked up the tape the guards found her again.

She had very little fight left in her, seeing Jonas broke her.

"Why Dad? Why did you leave!?"

She needed to leave Vault 101, she needed to find her father. Find him and make him explain. She could barely see the Overseers office or the information on the terminal, she could only vaguely recall a place called Megaton, it as if she had turned a robot. Acting without really seeing. She opened one door and froze.

She made it…the entrance to Vault 101. She had only been here once before. One of her childhood forays into restricted areas. She remembered the control console its light blinking, and its lever to open the Vault. She remembered being a child with her hand on the lever, before a guard stopped her. But now there was no one to stop her.

It was almost as if someone else's arm reached out and pulled the lever. Alarms blared, hinges creaked, and the massive gear door of the Vault slid open,

"Wow you actually got it open" Verea jumped and saw Amata behind her. She was staring in wonder at the cave that the Vault door opened up to.

"You did it! You opened the door! My God, I almost didn't believe it was possible."

"Couldn't have done it without you" said Verea smiling sadly. "Why don't you come with me?"

"Its tempting… but my place is here. The Vault needs me more than it needs you. I am the only one who talk some sense into my father. Listen if you ever find your father…tell him I'm sorry for everything. Goodbye Verea"

" Goodbye Amata" The two women embraced. The guards stormed in. Verea made a break for it.

"I don't care what the Overseer says I'm not going out there!"

Verea ran into the cave. When she turned around she saw the huge Vault door slide closed.

* * *

More exhausted than she ever felt in her life, Verea slumped down the wall of the cave and cried. A sharp pain in her backside distracted her from her reverie. The holodisk from Jonas was sticking into her. Still sniffling she took the disk and stuck into the appropriate slot on her Pip-boy.

"Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first. "

"I.. I don't really know how to tell you this. I hope you'll understand, but I know you might be angry. I thought about it for a long time, but in the end I decided it was best for you not to know. So many things could have gone wrong and there's really no telling how the overseer will react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame everything on me. Obviously you already know that I'm gone. It was something I needed to do. You're an adult now. You're ready to be on your own. Maybe someday things will change and we can see each other again. I can't tell you why I left or where I'm going. I don't want you to follow me. God knows life in the vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe. Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going."

"Don't mean to rush you, Doc, but I'd feel better if we got this over with" Jonas' voice rang out.

"Okay. Go ahead. Goodbye. I love you."

The explanation was so inadequate that Verea wanted to sob again out of sheer frustration.

Angrily wiping her tears on her sleeve, she declared, "I am going to find you Dad. I am going to find you and ask what the hell is going on." With that declaration the 19 year old woman stood and steeled herself against the future.

She place a hand on the small wooden door, and slowly pushed open and entered the Capital Wasteland.

-So what do you think? Please review! I really want to know what kind of writer I am.


	4. The Wasteland

I don't own anything

Italics means thinking

A/N: I will try to stay faithful to the Fallout 3 video game but I will be adding some of my own OC to the Fallout world in order to "flesh it out" more. Anyway on with the story!

* * *

The light.

The light blinded her.

"Aaarrrgghh!" Verea threw up her arm over her face and fell to the ground as her eyes throbbed and tears streamed down her face.

After what seemed like an eternity, her eyes adjusted and then she, for the first time, beheld the outside world.

Barren,

Desolate.

Wasted.

Those are some of the words to describe the vast hellscape that Verea stood before. Dead trees rooted in the desolate landscape reached their bare branches to the sky as if begging the gods for rain. Once proud houses stood burned and gutted like the skeletons that rested in the seats of the stripped down cars that littered the cracked highways. In the distance she saw the Washington Monument. The proud monument like the rest of the land was ruined and skeletal. As if placed there by a mocking god, a sign saying: Scenic Overlook stood on the cliff.

"Dad you left the Vault for this!" Beholding the ruined vista before her, Verea stomped her feet in frustration, how was she going to survive in this!

"Dad I am going to find you. I am going to hit you. Then I will make you explain…WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS!!!!" Verea gasped, tears threatening to fall once again. She swallowed her tears, squared her broad shoulders and set out.

* * *

The entrance to the Vault was set on a cliff. Dust from the top littered the cracked street below. Then small pebbles started bouncing of the faded asphalt. Next some large rocks came raining down, until finally a Vault-Suited figure fell, yelping onto the ground.

Verea lay groaning on the street. Climbing down the cliff had not worked out well for her and her hindquarters were crying in protest. Fluttering her eyes open, the blue sky awaited her. Overcome with a sense of intense vertigo, Verea snapped her eyes shut and rolled over. She had never seen the sky before.

"Girl get a hold of yourself, you are not going to fall into the sky. You are not going to fall into the sky!" She rubbed her backside. "You just confirmed that yourself"

Turning over, Verea opened her green eyes, and managed to look up at the sky.

"Its kinda weird, ya'know, the sky." She said to no one. Getting up she brushed the dust of her security armor and wiped off the screen on her Pip-boy.

"Better see what I've got" She had two sets of Vault Security Armor and helmet in her Pip-boys armor. Along with 5 Vault Suits, four Police Batons, three 10mm pistols, 56 rounds of ammo, her Baseball Bat, various plates and cups, a hot plate, some tools, Jona's clothes, medical supplies and finally about 9 pounds of Radroach meat. The screen showed that she was in full health.

"Now where too?" Deciding following the street would be smart. Verea headed down a small hill following the road.

Springvale. According to her pip-boy that just beeped. Apparently the GPS satellites were still up there after so long.

What looked liked a small suburb of DC was nothing but a bombed out wreck. Verea's foot caught a tin can and it clanked dismally in the silent wind.

Inside one of the shells of a ruined house she saw a chest of drawers that looked relatively intact. Her curiosity piqued she decided to take a look. Inside was a set of Pre-War business wear, a bit dirty but still usable.

"Maybe I can use it for bandages or something" said Verea scanning it into her Pip-Boy.

Little did the woman know that something was watching her through a bush. Verea pushed the drawer shut. She heared a small rustling in the bushes. Verea went into caution mode. The wind was not blowing at the time so it probably wasn't the wind. The figure in the bushes went still. _The prey was alert_. Several heartbeats later, Verea relaxed, it was probably nothing. _The prey was vulnerable now! Attack!_ Suddenly something burst out of the bushes. Immediately Verea whipped out her baseball bat and impacted it on the creature's head, shattering its skull. The creature fell to the ground silent. The creature looked like a hybrid between a rat and a pig, and it was about the size of a pig. It had beady little eyes and large buckteeth that look like it could deliver a painful bite.

"_Disgusting creature"_ is all that came to mind.

* * *

Continuing up the street, she saw a sign made of sheet metal. On it was the word Megaton scrawled in yellow paint. Megaton…Megaton…Now she remembered! Megaton was a settlement mentioned on the Overseer's terminal!

"_As good place to start as any"_ Verea thought, hurrying up the trail. Upon further inspection "Megaton" looked like a giant pile of scrap metal. The front gates looked like it was made from the jet engine and the wings from an airplane. In front of the gates a robot stood. A Protectron, she remembered from her studies. Judging from the bodies of giant ants, Verea remembered from the Overseer's terminal, the robot looked like it was doing its job.

"WELCOME—TO—MEGATON. —FRIENDLIEST—TOWN—AROUND"

"Glad to be here Mister Robot"

"THE—BOMB—IS—PERFECTLY—SAFE—WE—PROMISE"

"Bomb! What Bomb?" said the woman frantically, but the robot didn't answer,

"NEED—SOME—GRUB? —TRY—THE—BRASS—LANTERN"

"You need an upgrade" passing the robot. The protectron continued scanning the land.

"Creak" "Shunt" "SCREEEE!!"

The massive doors of the town creaked and groaned and the giant wings receded and allowed Verea access to the town. Inside there was a set of inner double doors, also made of scrap metal. Verea pushed them aside and entered Megaton.

* * *

Considering the condition of the outside of the town it shouldn't have come to any surprise that the inside of the town looked just as ramshackle as the outside. The whole town seemed to be built in the inside of a gigantic crater. She could see parts of airplanes all over the town, mostly along the walls and on top of buildings. Everything else seemed be made out of scrap metal from cars, and other sources. But what really took Verea's attention was the atomic bomb in the center of the crater. What were they thinking!? Building a town around a live atomic bomb!

"Well I'll be damned" a voice jolted her out of her thoughts. "Another newcomer. You've got to be from that vault, that jumpsuit says it all. Name's Lucas Simms. I'm the town sheriff, or mayor when he's needed."

Quickly composing herself, Verea replied, "Hello Mr. Simms, the name's Verea. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Polite and Well-mannered? You'll be welcome in Megaton. Just keep your gun holstered and you hands to yourself."

"Message received. Listen Sheriff, mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Fire away girl"

"Why the hell did you build a town around a nuclear bomb!?" She asked maybe a little harsher than necessary.

"Well the bomb was dropped during the War and it made this big crater. The local cult, The Children of the Atom worships the bomb. Their leader is Confessor Cromwell, the guy standing in the water around the bomb. If you want specifics talk to Manya, she's the town historian. "

"I'll do that, I really, oh, ah, NO! No, I am getting of track! Listen have you seen my father? An older man looks a little like me? Name's James?"

"Sorry Kid, Too many newcomers come and go for me to keep track of them all. I suggest asking around town. They might have seen him"

Verea sighed. "All right. Thanks anyway Sheriff"

"Good luck Kid, Hope you find your Dad" And he ambled off.

Verea scowled and kicked a small pebble at her feet. Well, its not like she expected this to be easy. She looked up at the rusty, old town, sighed and proceeded down the crater. Searching for clues.

* * *

What's wrong with it? What's right with it? Please tell me


	5. A Hard Lesson

I own nothing except for a full set of Harry Potter Books

Read and Review Please

A Hard Lesson

* * *

The doors of Springvale School slammed open and Verea the Commando emerged from within with a scowl on her face and a limp in her leg. She supposed she did the Wasteland a favor by getting rid of the raiders. But the fact was that her trip had been unhealthy and unproductive.

"Damnit" she exclaimed as another line of pain shot up her leg. "You had to by more ammo didn't you? I don't need more stimpacks I have plenty HA!" she grumbled to himself as she hobbled down the path to Megaton.

Her reasons for going to Springvale were simple: she needed weapons. Judging from what she heard about DC and the Wasteland, a 10mm and baseball bat and a police baton would not get her very far against a Super Mutant whatever that was. So she concluded that she would need more firepower. But as luck would have it, her meager supplies from the Vault weren't enough to buy more guns. Thus leading up to the events at Springvale. It all started soon when she arrived at Megaton…

* * *

Verea had asked around town for a while, seeing if anyone had seen her father. She hadn't had a lot of luck. She was walking on one of the balconies when she came across a building called Moriarty's Saloon.

"A bar! There must be some information there!" Verea hurried up the ramps. When she opened up the door a foul smell assaulted her nostrils, a smell of cheap booze and cigarettes along with a few other identifiable smells. It reminded her of "parents night" back in the Vault. When she entered she saw various patrons nursing drinks, smoking, and a pair of men were arm wrestling. Upstairs she heard a distinctive pounding and groaning sound. Soon a bearded man in leather armor and an assault rifle on his back came down from upstairs.

"You were great as usual, Nova"

"Speak for yourself Jericho," The attractive, red-haired woman said behind him. The young woman walked behind the staircase and began to smoke a cigarette. Verea walked toward the bar. _"Maybe the Barkeep's seen my father." _Suddenly a large man blocked her way.

"Hey baby, where ya headed?" The man reeked of alcohol, Verea thought he was drunk.

"To the bar, now stand aside" Verea made a move to pass the man. The man leered at her and two other men came up behind her with equally leery looks on their faces.

"Why do you need a drink? We can provide all the good stuff you need."

"Get out of my way" The men chuckled

"Why don't we take you outside and show you a good time" He made a move to grab her, and Verea kicked him in the shins.

"Ooh hoo you're feisty"

"She's gonna be fun"

"Get her!"

Verea reached into her pocket and whipped out her police baton and immediately whipped across the first guy's face and the other guys hands.

"Okay now you've pissed me off." Verea whipped her baton like a knight. The three men took out brass knuckles, a lead pipe and a tire iron, Verea waved her baton around and thanks to years of practice in the martial arts simulator, she made short work of the thugs and soon they were lying groaning on the floor. Verea put away her weapon and scanned the thug's weapons in her Pip-Boy. No one in the saloon seemed to notice what had happened.

"Wow you were great" a very raspy voice said, "Those three usually scare away our female customers"

"Thank you I-" she turned around and gasped. The person who spoke to her looked like a rotting corpse. But his face seemed friendly what was left of it anyway.

"Uh, Hello uh, sir! I was hoping you could help me with something." She said easing on to the barstool.

"Wait? You're not gonna hit me? Yell at me? Not even berate me a little bit?"

"Should I?"

"Well, now that's a surprise! I'm used to every person in this town giving me shit 'cause I look like a corpse."

"Why do you look like a corpse" Verea's scientific curiosity piqued.

"Well I'm called a ghoul. I was human once, but radiation turned me into this" gesturing at his body, "I don't know the specifics. You'll have to ask a scientist."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Gob, the name's Verea" extending her hand, Gob looked at it almost in shock. So did a few of the customers. Verea raised her eyebrow. Gob reluctantly shook. His hand felt tough, leathery, almost like beef jerky.

"Moriarty'd have my head if he saw me chargin' at a discount, but for you, I'll risk it."

"That's very generous of you Gob but I need your help, I'm looking for my father maybe you've seen him. Older man, fifties, dark hair and beard, looks a little like me."

"Can't say I have, to tell you the truth is, I keep my head down most of the time."

Verea didn't say anything but slammed her head against the bar with a loud thud.

"Damnit"

"Why are you looking for him anyway?"

Verea looked up.

"First I pissed off the Overseer. Then my dad up and decides to leave the vault without telling anyone, even though the rules say the door stays sealed. My adopted brother, who supposedly assisted my father in escaping, gets executed on the spot by security. They came after me next just because it was my dad; I had no fucking clue he was going to leave."

"Wow I thought my life was bad." Said Gob "Well I'm sure you'll find him and make him fess up"

"I guess so," said Verea resignedly "In the meantime would you mind explaining the wasteland for me? And why people seem to be paying you with bottle caps?

Gob spent nearly half an hour filling her in on everything a wasteland resident would consider basic knowledge. Caps were money and the standard barter system was also commonly used, the animals and mutants that inhabited the wastes, the various factions that ran what was left of the area. He ended his lecture with some notes about a couple of the major towns and locations he knew about.

"GOB!!!" A loud voice called out making Verea's hand fly to her weapon.

"I am not paying you to talk to women! Get back to work you useless zombie!"

Gob hurriedly slinked off to the other end of the bar. The white-haired man looked at Verea with hard eyes, Verea did her best to glare back.

"Colin Moriarty at your service!" The man spoke with an Irish accent and seemed friendly, but the friendly tone in his voice didn't extend to his eyes.

Welcome to Moriarty's, my saloon, my home, my slice of heaven in this backwoods little burg. If you've got the caps" _Caps: currency Verea remembered from Gob _ "I've got your pleasure, Please sit down, make yourself comfortable. Your troubles are a thing of the past.

"_I wish,"_ thought Verea.

"Thank you, but I'm looking for my father. Middle-aged guy, maybe you've seen him?

"My God" Moriarty pressed a hand to his forehead and stepped back, looking genuinely surprised. "Its you the little baby girl, all grown up." He grinned and rubbed a finger down the side of Verea's face. This man seemed to know about her father so she resisted the urge to break his wrist. "Persistent little wench, ain't ya? Then and now it would seem. It's been a long time kid."

Verea was puzzled; she definitely didn't know this man. What was he talking about?

"Oh your daddy passed through here all right. Here and gone. Got what he came for, and then left. Assuming you'll do the same thing correct?

Now Verea was definitely confused. She stood from her chair. "What are you talking about? My father and I were born in Vault 101, he never knew you!" pointing her finger at him.

Moriarty laughed loudly causing several patrons to jolt. "Is that what your father told you? That you were born in that hole? That HE was born in there as well? Hahaha. Oh the lies we tell those we love," "sigh"

Composing himself Moriarty continued. "Your father brought you to the Vault right after you were born. To keep you safe, you see. I remember it well – You stayed in my saloon after all. That's right. Your father, his Brotherhood of Steel friend, and you, the suckling babe with nary a tit to suckle, Sorry about your mum, truly. Verea didn't think he was truly sorry but now was not the time to dwell on such things.

Unabated Moriarty continued, taking a seat at the bar at the same time. "But life goes on. Daddy lied. Life's full of little disappointments. And now…You're all grown up, and wondering wears he's gone to…GOB!!!" Verea swore her heart stopped. "Your boss is very thirsty! Get me something!" The ghoul hurried up to the bar and placed a bottle of beer in front of him. "NOT THAT!" throwing the bottle back at him, causing him to drop it and shatter. "I want Vodka NOW!! And that beer will be deducted from your pay!"

Verea felt a surge of pity for Gob, He really was a slave, but back to the matter at hand…

"My dad told me we were born in Vault 101."

"Aaahhhh. I see. You know, I heard about the brainwashing that goes on down there. From some fella that escaped oh…five years ago. We're born in the Vault and we die in the Vault, All hail the Overseer! And a bunch of other lunacy. Kid you've been programmed better than our own Deputy Weld."

"Deputy Weld?"

"That there robot that protects the gate"

"Ah"

The saloon owner sipped his vodka and continued. "You best wise up quick or you might be…" He leaned in very close. "Taken advantage of hmmm."

Verea held up a hand and pushed him back. "I'll keep that in mind. Look I just want to find my father, do you know where he is?"

Moriarty sighed "You seem like a nice kid so I'm going to be straight with you. Your dad was here and now he is not, and yes I know where he went. But what you're asking for is information and information is a commodity…"

Verea did not like where this was heading.

"Lets say…100 hundred caps and the info's yours. Sounds reasonable."

Verea's mouth dropped open. "You…but…I" she sputtered " I don't have 100 caps!" she said incredulously.

Moriarty held up his hands in a pacifistic gesture. "All right kid I'll help you out, for old times sake. If you don't have the caps, perhaps you can do a little favor for me."

_Doing a bar owner's dirty work, lovely. _Verea crossed her arms "Okay what do you want me to do?"

"About a year ago one of my, um, employees, named Silver, disagreed with how I ran my business, and so that gave her an excuse to rob me and head for the hills, She lives in a house in Springvale getting juiced up on Jet and Physcho. I need you to go there take back my money and it's yours. To pay me with that is, he he he." And with that he got up and left.

A shudder ran through the woman's body. That man was bad news. But she did not know what else to do. On here way to the door she passed a table with several men sitting around it. One of them mentioned how much he missed Silver. Curious Verea decided to wait by the door.

* * *

Verea walked to the dilapidated house in the ruins of Springvale. The Small Ranch seemed deserted. Walking to the front door she found it locked. Verea then withdrew a bobby pin from her pocket and proceeded to fiddle with the lock.

* * *

Inside the drab house, a young woman sat in her chair, staring off into space, smoking a cigarette. A strange rattling stirred her out of her reverie. She looked behind her and saw the doorknob rattling. Someone was trying to get inside! Silently as a ghost, the silver-haired figure slipped away…

* * *

"Click"

The door swung open. Our hero stepped within. The inside of the house was small and dusty. There seemed to be nobody home. Verea ventured further within. Looking around she saw a cigarette smoldering in an ashtray. Wait…cigarette!

"_Someone's here!"_

Her instincts kicked in too late, for when she turned around, a silver-haired woman was aiming a .32 pistol at her neck.

"_An inferior weapon."_ Her weapon's research told her, _"cheap, unreliable, revolver. Poor spread and penetration." _Still a weapon aimed at her neck was still lethal, especially at this range.

"Uuuuhh…Silver I presume?"

"Well now let me guess! Moriarty sent you here to kill me eh?

"Uh"

"Said I stole his money huh! Well he's a liar! I slept with every man and a few women in Megaton and he kept all my earnings! It's my money and your not going to take it from me!"

"I wasn't planning too!" Verea screamed.

"Whaddya mean!" Silver screamed just as loudly

"I heard some people in the bar talk about you! Well I didn't know it was you, but…look I need a hundred caps to get Moriarty to talk!"

"Well what do you expect me to do about it?"

"Look Silver, Just give me the caps and I'll tell Moriarty you're gone.

"Uh. Really?" said Silver dumbfounded, "You'd do that for me?"

"Sure" said Verea

"You know your all right kid"

Verea smiled as Silver put away her gun and she went to go get the caps. When she came back, a strange growling filled the small cabin. Silver looked around and Verea blushed. She realized she hadn't had anything to eat since she had gone down for a nap in the Vault, several hours ago.

"Uuuhhh, you got any food?"

"Why not kid. Guess I owe you that much. Come on," Silver led her to a small dining nook. Verea sat down at the old table while Silver went over to the drab refrigerator and got some food out and set it in front of her.

"What's this?" Verea said

"Mole rat meat, Salisbury steak, Dandy-boy apples, mutfruit, Brahmin cheese, and Nuka-Cola. Enjoy" Verea's Pip-boy Geiger counter ticked. "This is all irradiated."

"Yep everything is. Here, take these" Silver placed a small bowl in front of her filled with small red pills."

"And these are?"

"Rad-x. Take a few and you'll stay radiation free!"

Now Verea was prepared to say "thanks but no thanks" I regards to the meal. But then her stomach growled again, and she said, "screw rads." And so Verea popped a few of the pills and dug into the meal like a rabid animal. Soon every last crumb had vanished. She felt a strange tingling after swallowing, but other than that the food wasn't that bad. She never had spicy fruit before.

"My you were hungry." Said Silver who was sitting in front of her. She hadn't eaten anything; instead she was using this thing that looked like an asthma inhaler.

"What's that you're using?" she asked her.

"This" pointing to the red inhaler "is Jet and its great!" Verea noticed on closer inspection that Silver seemed slightly intoxicated. She was starting to remind her of Ellen Deloria, the Vault Drunkard. Whatever this Jet was it couldn't be great.

"I'll take your word for it. Listen do you know where I can find some weapons?"

"Weapons?"

"Yeah I need to get into D.C. to Galaxy News Radio and based on what I've heard, this" holding up her 10mm "won't cut it in there"

"Yeah it won't" slurred Silver. "Heeeyyy, maybe the Raiders have some!"

"Raiders?" Verea had heard about the Raiders in Megaton. Sounded nasty.

"Yeeaahh" –puff- "they live" –puff- "in" –puff- "Springvale School. Just a few blocks from here" –puff-–puff-–puff-

"Do they bother you?" asked Verea, aware that the end was near,

"Naahh" said Silver. "their boss said they'd leave me alone if I fucked…him" and then Silver fell on the table with a thunk and started snoring. Verea sighed.

"Well thanks for the food. I'll let myself out"

Outside Silver's house, Verea considered herself. I need guns, raiders have guns…Time for Battle" Verea grinned savagely and unholstered her 10mm.

* * *

"SHIT!" another line of pain shot up her back, jolting her back to the present, as she hobbled through Megaton's gates. Her foray into Springvale was almost wasted.

She thought she could get some new guns. All she got were some knives, tire irons, and some crappy .32 pistols. She did get some more 10mm pistols that she knew would help. She also got some raider armor but her Vault Security Armor was good for now. But what really took the cake was the R91 Assault Rifle. She remembered how her heart leapt when she beheld in the ant hive. But on closer inspection the weapon was revealed to be in terrible shape. She doubted it could last a full clip before breaking. Four hours almost wasted.

"Son of a Bitch" she cried falling to her knees near Megaton's bomb. "Need to get to the clinic"

"Oh you poor thing" A high-pitched, slightly annoying voice said. Verea's vision began to blur from a lack of blood. "Oh my severe penetrating abdominal trauma, broken bones, and deep lacerations. This will be great research for the guide."

Verea passed out.

* * *

Reviews are greatly appreciated


	6. The Start of a Quest

Hello again faithful. Welcome to the nest chapter of Walking the Dust!

As always read and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout: Bethesda does.

Survival 101

"A little Brahmin milk, a bonesaw, and finally a couple of stitches. That should do it!"

Verea stirred. She opened her eyes and the world was desperately out of focus.

"Well hey there sleepyhead! You were pretty banged up down in the crater"

It was the same voice she had heard before she had passed out next to the bomb. It was coming from a young woman sitting on a chair next to the bed. She had brown hair in a Wendy the welder hairstyle. She was wearing a mechanics jumpsuit with the words Robco on them. She vaguely recalled the words from somewhere else but her head hurt too much to think.

"You were quite a mess. You suffered many injuries. Your left arm as well as your torso were crippled. You had many bullet wounds all over your body, several contusions consistent with blunt trauma, as well many lacerations caused by a blade with serrated edges. And the cherry on top you had many sprained muscles. You shouldn't over exert yourself so much." She said all of this very quickly.

Verea blinked slowly and the throbbing in her head seemed to intensify, moaning she sat up. Her head throbbed again and she rubbed her eyes.

"Ooh careful now. I had to use 55 stitches on you. I even stitched a smiley face on you, but I won't say where, hee hee hee"

Verea removed her hands from her eyes and realized that she was in her underwear. Looking around quickly she saw her clothes folded on a table behind the peppy woman.

"Look thank you, but where am I, who are you, and why did you help me?

"Why your in Craterside Supply silly, your source for stuff. I'm Moira Brown, I run it, but most of what I do is inventing and tinkering. I'm currently working on book about the Wasteland and you were a big help in writing one section."

"So my injuries…"

"Well the section of the chapter is how to treat critical injuries. You were critically injured so it worked for both of us. Here take these stimpaks as payment"

Verea took the stimpaks but didn't say thank you. Her eyes had drifted over to look over the store. A surly looking guard was standing in the corner but wasn't what caught her attention. Hanging on the wall was an armored suit. But it wasn't any ordinary suit; the yellow 101 on the back caught her eye. It looked like a vault suit but armor plating sewn into it, along with shin guards and gauntlets.

"Where did you get that armored suit?" Verea asked Moira.

"Oh that" said Moira "Well your not the first Vault Dweller to come here. Another young lady and man came about…twelve years ago. They couldn't survive long in those Vault Suits of theirs so the woman asked me to armor her suit, but she never returned. Its been hanging on the wall ever since.

Her curiosity piqued, Verea asked for more. "Tell me more about this book"

Moira brightened considerably. "Well it's a dangerous place out there in the Wastes, right? Well people could use a compilation of good advice. Like a Wasteland Survival Guide!

"That's pretty ambitious. I'm surprised no one has thought of it before."

"Well it takes an uncommon mind to think of these things," said Moira flashing a big toothy grin.

"I'd agree with that"

"Say I don't suppose you'd be willing to help me some more would you?"

Verea's warning system started to beep slowly. She was no tool to be used. "How exactly can I help you?" she asked cautiously.

"Well I need an assistant to test my theories. I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt because of a mistake. Nobody likes that when that happens. They get real angry and yell at me with big mean words." She said with a pout. But then she brightened up. "So what do you say? You want to be instrumental in the rebuilding of civilization?"

Well her experience at Springvale School had told her that she desperately needed a crash course in Wasteland Survival.

"Deal" and she clasped Moira's hand.

"Oh Yippee! I can't wait to get started. Okay first off, we need information about how to find food and medicine. The old Super Duper Mart should be a good place to start. Here are the coordinates."

Verea took the offered coordinates and typed them into her pip-boy, where her compass will guide her to the old store.

"Before I go, can I see what you have for sale?"

"Absolutely"

Verea traded some of her loot from Springvale School; most of their weapons and salvage went to Moira. She decided to keep some of the armor, as it was unlikely she could replace her Vault Security Armor anytime soon. In the end she had about seven hundred caps.

"All right I'll be going now. Off to Super Duper Mart."

"Have fun out there okay" said Moira with a big toothy grin.

"Heh heh" with an awkward smile and wave Verea departed Craterside Supply.

Review Please!


	7. A Super Duper Job

I don't own Fallout 3

Hi guys! Um, yeah I know it's been a while since I've updated all my other fics, but I'm really trying. I am determined to finish every thing that I've started; I've barely even broken ground on most of them yet. Trust me, one of the things that bugs me about this site are authors who don't finish their work. I WILL FINISH THIS!

{*}

A Super Duper Job

"_Creak Shunk_" "Have a nice day Pardner" With those words of encouragement, Verea departed Megaton.

It was early in the morning. The sun was not too high in the sky yet. Even thought she had only been out of the Vault for two days, she was already starting to like the outside. Being inside a climate-controlled Vault all her life, it was nice to feel the warm sunlight on her skin.

Once again the Wasteland beckoned her. The same as it was before, except she was heading towards the ruins of the former Capitol, Washington DC. The Super Duper Mart was on the outskirts of the city just before the middle wastes.

The rocks crunched beneath her boots as she walked south. It was pretty quiet. The wasteland seemed to be just waking up.

"STING"

"Yow!" A sharp pain grazed her shoulder. Her head spun around searching for the assailant. But she was befuddled when the only thing she spotted was a dust devil. Something whipped pass her ear. At the same time she heard a buzzing sound.

"STING"

"Aaah" cried Verea when a stinging pain erupted in the back of her leg. Spinning around she confronted the person who was attacking her.

Except it wasn't a person at all. It was a bug. A big bug. Hovering a couple of feet above the ground was an enormous bloated fly.

Verea gaped at the ugly insect.

The bloatfly began to dart around in front of her. Verea suddenly had a flashback back to the Vault, when Butch would pick fights with her and would dance around her on his tiptoes like a boxer. Snapping back to the present, the pest seemed to eject stingers from the lower end of its abdomen, which didn't seem very effective as they bounced right off her armor

She began to reach for her 10mm but after a moment's thought she decided otherwise. This creature was frail and its attacks more suited for a rat than a human. But it was pretty maneuverable and she didn't feel like wasting ammunition on this on this little annoyance. Remembering she still had her BB-Gun scanned inside her Pip-Boy, she summoned her birthday present and took aim.

When fighting the raiders of Springvale, Verea took a lot of satisfaction in taking aim and watching her prey bite the dust. But in the case of bloatfly, there was almost no satisfaction. Just, "Ptchoo" "Thud" and it was over. The bloatfly lay twitching on the ground.

"Boooring" said Verea as she kneeled next to the carcass. It looked disgusting. Grimacing Verea scanned the bug with her pip-boy and felt one pound of meat digitize in its memory core. Her stomach gave a painful lurch at the though of eating it. But from looking around the rocky landscape she doubted she'd be finding any apple trees around.

As she walked by an old water tower her compass indicated that she was near the Super Duper Mart. As she crested the hill she saw a large, square building with a tall sign saying "Super Duper Mart". A great sense of triumph filled Verea. The trip had only taken fifteen minutes and she had only one "obstacle" if you could call the Bloatfly that.

"Easiest Job Ever"

Her triumph was short lived however as shots rang out from the unseen front of the store and a dark skinned man with a bandanna and brown jacket ran around the corner of the building. Behind him were two raiders, just like the ones in Springvale, armed with a baseball bat and lead pipe were chasing him.

"Help me!" the man cried

Wasting no time, Verea unholstered her 10mm and charged down the hill. Four shells later, both raiders were dead.

Noticing his potential captors were dead he stopped and hunched over with his hands on his knees.

"_Pant_. Thanks, _Pant Pant,_ for the save. I'm Ben Canning"

"Verea"

"Its very nice to meet you! You got any purified water?"

Verea stocked up on purified water before leaving Megaton and knowing that she had plenty more, she consented.

"Here you go Ben"

Ben Canning snatched up the bottle of crystal, clear water and eagerly drank the whole thing down. He handed the empty bottle back to Verea and pulled out a cigarette and began to smoke it.

"You're a lifesaver lady! Well see ya! With that Ben Canning walked away. He moved so fast Verea barely had time to utter a confused farewell.

"That was weird"

Returning to the task at hand, Verea turned her eyes to the pair of raider corpses bleeding on the soil. Verea stripped them of armor, weapons, and other items and walked to the front of the building. It immediately became obvious where the raiders came from. The façade of the former grocery store was grotesquely decorated with human remains. Nailed to walls or hanging on chains, they were all over. This was a raider base.

A peculiar sensation overcame Verea. She imagined she would feel terror like Ben Canning or sheer disgust from the gruesome decoration, but instead she felt what could only be described as anticipation and exhilaration. Like a wolf finding fresh deer prints, Verea saw the corpses as sign of only one thing:

Prey

A savage grin once again appeared on her face and her hand itched toward her gun. Feeling bolder, she typed on her pip-boy and shuddered in delight as a second gun materialized in her other hand. She lifted the two 10mm and stood in front of the double doors to the inside.

"Oh I'll get the food and medicine, Moira" chuckled Verea as she entered the Super Duper Mart

{$}

A dark figure darted between the dusty cash register, unbeknownst to the raider walking among the shelves. The shadowy figure ducked behind another register, making little

more noise than a panther. Suddenly a sharp, clanging echoed unnaturally loud through the building as tin can bounced from behind a register.

"_Dammit"_ thought Verea

"Come on boys fresh meat!"

Verea raised her guns and shot the raider who fell over dead. She then sprinted between the shelves toward the back of the store. She eliminated a raider who was attempted to cut her off from the top of the shelves. She emerged from the canyons of shelves. She was now facing the back end of the building. More raiders were coming out of various corridors and rooms intending to swarm her.

"We're gonna tear you apart!"

A puzzling feeling of detachment overcame Verea. It was almost as if she was watching her body move on its own accord. She could almost see every bullet sink into the flesh of the raiders.

Three clips of shells, five stimpacks, and the piece of bloatfly meat later, all of the raiders lay dead and the Super Duper Mart was quiet.

A triumphant grin was upon Verea's face. Victory! With a tired, but triumphant gait, Verea proceeded to strip the raiders of weapons, armor, chems, caps, and junk.

After stashing her loot, Verea returned to her mission. There was a door to her left, behind the old pharmacy. It looked like a storeroom.

"_There's probably food and medicine in there"_ Thought Verea.

There was a lot of stuff in the storeroom but little of it was edible. One of the most spectacular finds was a robot in its charging station.

"After all this time it still functions"

The robot was a Robco Metro Protectron. The Vault had none of these models but she had seen them in the databases. The charging terminal was still operational and slightly humming. The Protectron was a general-purpose automaton programmed for speed, efficiency, and friendliness as the commercials proclaimed and if her studies rang true were armed with lasers. Little did she know that those lasers would be coming in handy very soon.

(%)

Verea proceed to loot the storeroom. She still had little idea what was valuable or not in this new society so she tried to take a little bit of everything. One of the more curious items was in the back. In the back there were several cases with soda bottles in them. Verea recognized them as Nuka-Cola, a popular soft drink, even in the Vault. A few were still full so she gathered them up. They were also bottles that were literally "glowing". For real. The liquid inside of them was glowing a blue color. The word "Quantum" was printed on the label. Figuring Moira might give her a bonus for a scientific oddity, she gathered them up as well.

Finished with looting the storeroom, Verea turned her attention back to the protectron, to see if she could salvage it.

"We're back. Wait a minute…something aint right!"

Verea's blood ran cold. The raiders she just killed weren't alone. This was a base. Others must have been out raiding, and they had returned.

Quick as a flash, Verea darted to the front of the storeroom and closed the door. She ran back to the silent robot. Once a curiosity, now her salvation. Thanks to the engineering marvels of the 21st century, both the robot and its operating terminal were still functioning after all these years. Verea logged on to the computer and began to compute.

While her official job in the Vault was a fry cook, Verea was something of a "jack-of-all-trades" among the residents of Vault 101. She would help her father in the clinic, Stanley with repairs, Jonas in the reactors and science lab and was well rounded on a variety of subjects. One of which was computer science. It took some doing…it was more difficult than she thought to crack the code but eventually…

Beep Whoosh…Thunk Thunk

"PLEASE STATE EMPLOYEE ID"

Verea quickly glanced around and spotted a card-like device on top of the monitor. She quickly grabbed it and showed it to the robot.

"EMPLOYEE ID ACCEPTED. MANAGER DAVID COLLINS. INTRUDERS DETECTED. COMMENCING SECURITY PROTOCOLS."

The protectron clunked out of the storeroom, opening the door with surprising dexterity.

"INTRUDER ALERT"

"What the hell!"

Zap Zap Zap

"Killit Killit"

"CEASE AND DESIST"

BANG BANG WHACK

The battle raged on outside, Verea listening intently through the door, silently rooting for her metallic friend.

"Crash smash! Thud"

"Surrreeenduur…blerp!"

Verea winced, the metro protectron was good against muggers and shoplifters but against a band of armed savages it could only hold out for so long. Verea checked her Pip-Boys radar. The red ticks proved that the raiders were still out there.

Verea unholstered her 10mm and loaded a fresh clip. Steeling herself for battle, she was just about to exit the storeroom when something caught her eye. How could she have missed this? Sitting on one of the shelves was an item that looked like a miniature atomic bomb. Remembering the raiders outside, Verea quickly scanned the item into her pip-boy for further study.

(#)

The door to the storeroom cracked open and Verea quietly slid out. A raider's body laid a few feet in front of her. A live raider walked a few feet in front of it. Off to the left, the Protectron lay battered and pieces on the floor.

Once again, just like before, a strange exhilaration flowed through Verea. Most other citizens of Vault 101 would probably be cowering in the corner of the storeroom praying for the raiders to go away. But Verea felt only excitement. In fact, she had to bite her lip to keep an excited squeal from escaping her mouth.

"Gad, what is wrong with me?"

One of the raiders paused as if hearing Verea's thoughts. Now was the time, she lined her iron sights with the raider's head…

Bang!

Perfect Shot! The raider fell to ground in a heap. The others quickly swarmed Verea's position, screaming and cursing. Two more fell under Verea's fire. Knives and baseball bats did not hold up well against two handguns. One managed to stay back and pull off a lucky shot.

A shell from a .32 pistol sank into Verea's hip. A cry rang out from Verea but she managed to keep her composure. In her pain, Verea fired a wild shot toward the raider. He managed to dodge it but in doing so he slipped off the walkway he was standing on and with a sickening thud he hit his head on the shelf and fell to the ground unmoving.

Then almost as quickly as it began, the battle came to a close. The only sound in the old store was the sound of Verea's panting.

Verea winced and grabbed her side, trying to stop the flow of blood from her hip wound. Pressing a few buttons on her pip-boy she summoned a stimpack and jabbed it into her body. Like magic the wound healed and the only evidence there ever was one was the blood and the small batch of pink skin on her hip. She then proceeded to eat some radroach meat. While the stimpack accelerated her healing, the raw materials had to come from her body and eating helped replenish them.

"Well that was fun," said Verea matter-o-factly. "Now lets get down to business"

She then set upon looting the raider corpses as well as the wreck of the protectron for its power cells. After scanning it all in her pip-boy. Verea finally took a good look around the Super Duper Mart. The shelves were bare save for rusted cans and milk bottles. There was nothing edible in sight. However this was a raider base and they had to have a stash somewhere. Scanning the room, Verea spotted an old refrigerator sitting inside a frozen food box. Opening it Verea said something:

"Jackpot!" Inside, it was full of Pre-War food. Verea eagerly gathered it all up and just as eagerly dug into one of the fancy lad Snack Cakes. All irradiated but nonetheless, Verea enjoyed the sweet treat.

Knowing that the raiders probably had more than one stash Verea looked around for another refrigerator. Moving to the front of the store near the remains of what looked like a pharmacy, she spotted yet another refrigerator, it too was crammed with food.

"Salisbury steak. Cram, Yum Yum Deviled Eggs. It all looks good! Even though it's irradiated and old."

Verea then proceeded to examine every nook and cranny of the old store looking for saleable items to salvage. She found many interesting things like toy cars and kitchen knives. But what she found lying on a counter paled in comparison to all those things.

(*)

Verea just finished stuffing a pack of cigarettes into one of the pockets of her suit when she spotted something that made her hand go limp.

"Is that…can it be? IT IS! "

With trembling hands, Verea reached for the gun with a square barrel…but it wasn't just any old gun.

"An AEP7 Laser Pistol! Put into service to replace the AEP5 model. With a generous battery size, tight shot grouping at range, resilience to extended use, and fairly decent damage output, it is a very good choice for a sidearm." Verea went on as though she swallowed an issue of Guns and Bullets. "Boasting a redesigned focusing crystal pattern, an improved photonic focusing chamber and a selectable laser focus." She continued, "In addition, it was lighter and less bulky than its predecessor (although still fairly cumbersome compared to the Wattz 1000) and was perceived as a step toward replacing the N99 with a laser weapon as the standard issue sidearm for military forces."

Rubbing the gun against her face like it was a beloved pet, Verea squealed and turned around in a circle only to be hit with another surprise. A second AEP7 was lying on the counter behind her.

"Oh happy day!" She gathered both guns up and hugged them. Storing one away, Verea checked the other finding it in decent shape. She raised it and aimed at a milk bottle sitting on a shelf. Verea pulled the trigger. A red beam shot out of the barrel, shattering the bottle.

"Yes"

Satisfied with her work, Verea turned. She noticed a raider lying motionless on the floor. Flies were gathering around her eyes and mouth.

"Please don't get up. I'll let myself out"

(&)

Remember to Review!


	8. Megaton

Like I mentioned in the previous chapters. I will follow the game pretty fatefully but I will be adding a few things to flesh it out some, it order to make it more realistic. In my story Megaton has a population of a hundred or so.

Be sure to review!

Walking the Dust

Megaton

"Welcome Back Pardner"

Verea pushed the door open back into Megaton. A sigh of relief excited her mouth when she beheld the ramshackle city but she didn't quite know why…

"Oh your back! Great!"

Verea would recognize that peppy voice anywhere. Indeed right behind her, Moira Brown was strolling up to her with a bulging sack over her shoulder.

"Just in time too. I just finished shopping!" Gesturing with her sack.

"I see"

"Well don't just stand there" leaning up close to Verea. "So how's the scavving been? Got the food and medicine from the Super Duper Mart?"

"Yes I did but it was quite an ordeal"

"Really? You did? You did! Well come on! Tell me all about it." Before Verea had a chance to protest she grabbed her wrist and drug her back to Craterside Supply.

Throwing her sack on the counter, Moira turned to Verea with the look of puppy begging.

"_Ahem" _Well the store was used as a base by Raiders and there were many of them. I had to activate an old robot to help me. But I managed to get rid of them and took all of the food I could find and" rubbing her hand over her new laser pistol. "I got a new toy"

"Oh that's wonderful! Have to whatever you do in order to survive, don't you? Need to write that down for the guide. Anyway keep everything you found, I just traded a big food shipment already. Oh! And I have one more thing for you! Wait right here!"

Moira Brown ran up the stairs and immediately the sounds of rummaging filled the store.

Verea examined some of the items that were on the shelves, weapons and armor mostly. There were a few tools and first aid kits around as well. She once again saw the armored Vault Suit hanging on the wall. She found herself leaning closer to the suit.

"_She made this for another Vault Dweller."_ Thought Verea. "_Who was this Vault Dweller? And where did she disappear too?"_

"Found it!" disturbing Verea out of her thoughts. Moira came running back down the stairs with a strange device in her hands.

"This is a food sanitizer. Just carry it with you and should automatically make most food and drink more, um…better. Here are the instructions. I

Verea read the very old looking paper"

"_**Congratulations on your purchase of the TASTEE CLEEN SANITIZER, another household health essential from Abraxodyne Chemical!**_

_**Using your TASTEE CLEEN SANITIZER is simple! Just carry the sanitizer with your food or beverages, and our patented ABRAXO-LUX BACTO-SCOUR process will remove any trace bacteria before you even take your first bite or drink!**_

_**Abraxo's dietary engineers have proven that using the TASTEE CLEEN SANITIZER unlocks additional nutritional health benefits! So enjoy your food again, free of filth and grime.**_

_**And remember: ABRAXO for all your cleaning needs!**_

_**Warning: Product is not guaranteed to sanitize all food and drink.**_

Abraxodyne is not responsible for any sickness, paralyzation, blindness or death that may result from unauthorized use!"

"Sounds good to me" said Verea hooking the device on her belt.

"One more thing, that thing will make food more paltable but not any less radioactive."

"Can't have everything I suppose"

"Well hopefully this guide will change all that"

"Maybe, so what's next?"

"Well I need you to get back out in the field. This time it's about landmines!" Moira said with a smile.

Verea sighed as her head fell forward. "Lets hear it" she said with a resigned wave of her arm.

"Landmines are one of the few dangers out there that you can profit from. Disarm one before it blows and you can sell it for plenty of caps, I've heard stories about a ghost town that's just full of landmines. Traders just call the place "Minefield." What I need you to do is get in there, get back and tell me all about it. If you bring me some mines, I'll have something special for you!"

"_An old supermarket filled with raiders and a town full of explosives, lovely" _Thought Verea.

"All right I'll go to Minefield and bring you back your explosive ordinance."

What Verea didn't expect was a pair arms to loop around her neck and her face to be buried in a pair of breasts.

"**Oh thankyou thankyou thankyou!** You don't know how much I've wanted my own landmine! You're the best research assistant ever!" She began to spin Verea in a circle. The mercenary watched this with a blank face. "Most of my assistants don't last this long! Everytime they get hurt they just yell at me with mean, mean, words! But not you though! I knew you were special from-"

"All right! All right!" yelled Verea, shoving Moira off. She just giggled.

"I'm flattered but I would like to be on my way now!"

"Just make it to the playground and back! Here's a map!"

Verea took the map and exited the store.

(*S)

As the door slammed shut beside her, Verea checked the map and the time. Judging from the map it would probably be dark before she got to Minefield. She would have to spend the night. Besides she was tired, the Super Duper Mart wasn't so super on her body.

"_Is it really my first night? It feels like I've been here a week." _She did have a busy day.

A smell wafted to her nose and her stomach clenched with hunger. Whatever it was it smelled better than the wasteland did so far.

"Sniff, Sniff"

Verea skittered down the platforms following her nose.

"Sniff Sniff" Whatever it was it smelled good. As she arrived at the bottom of the crater, she once again beheld the bomb laying innocuously at the center of the crater. Verea took a moment to stare at it. But once again the smell wafted at her nostrils. Turning around she saw a small building with Chinese Characters written in neon and a small painted sign saying: The Brass Lantern.

The Brass Lantern…where had she heard that before?

"Need some grub? Try the Brass Lantern" Of course! Deputy Weld mentioned it! It was a restuarant.

Feeling that the joint was the source of that delicious smell, Verea decided to take a closer look. A man in tattered clothes was sitting at the outdoor bar eating what looked like some kind of stew. He glared and covered his bowl when Verea took the space next to him.

"Hi there. Welcome to the Brass Lantern" said a curvy young woman, with red hair and a yellow jumpsuit.

"Now I KNOW I've never seen you here in Megaton before. Let me guess—just passing through right?"

"I'm not quite sure yet Ms…?

"The name is Jenny Stahl, kid. We get people trying to settle down here all the time. Anyway if you're hungry, you came to the right place, What can I get you?

"Yes. What's cooking that smells so good." Said Verea sniffing the air.

"That would be the Brahmin Steak.

"I'll take that please"

"Very good. That will be five caps please."

Verea reached into her pocket and counted out the caps. Jenny respectively put them in her pocket.

"Yo need a hunk of red out here!" Jenny yelled through a small window.

"Roger that."

"While we're waiting, anything to drink with that?"

" Oh yes. Some water please."

"That will be 10 caps"

"Water's more expensive than meat?"

"Of course it is" Jenny gave Verea a strange look. "Where have you been, under a rock?"

"Uhhh, kinda. I'm just not from around here"

"Whatever. Do you want the water or not?"

"Oh yes, please"

Once again the exchange of caps took place and Jenny walked over to the outdoor fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.

"There you are"

"Thank you" Verea opened the bottle of water and took a sip…

"PBBTHH! GAAAKK, "THIS WATER TASTES LIKE DIRT!"

"Oh you wanted purified water?"

"Of course!" Verea wiped her mouth on her sleeve. "What other kind is there!"

The man sitting beside her snorted into his stew.

"Man, you have been living under a rock haven't you?"

"There's dirty water and there is purified water, which costs 20 caps."

Verea held up hand, "Forget it I have my own drink…"

Verea retracted her arm and pressed a few buttons on her Pip-boy and with a green light, a bottle of Nuka-Cola materialized in her hand.

"A Pip-boy! You're from a Vault!" exclaimed Jenny.

"What about it?" said Verea after she had taken a sip from the soda. It was warm and flat but tasted better than the dirty water.

Jenny grabbed Verea's arm and pulled her close ("What the hell!") and looked around frantically. No one else seemed to have noticed but the man who was at the bar had vanished.

Jenny turned to Verea and found her midway through unholstering her laser pistol.

"Put that away, I'm trying to help you!"

"Let go of my arm." Said Verea simply.

"Listen to me." Jenny urgently whispered. "Keep the fact that you're a Vault Dweller to herself, many people would kill to have one of those around their wrists."

"I said let go!" Verea tried to yank her arm away but Jenny held on. Verea began to press on Jenny's head with her other arm and Jenny gripped the trapped arm with both hands…

"Uhhh I got an order for Brahmin steak here" Both women paused and looked at the man with short brown hair and a faint beard.

"eh, Thanks Leo, she ordered it" gesturing to the woman she was holding. The two awkwardly parted and Leo placed the platter of meat in front of Verea. "Enjoy"

Verea considered just ditching the meal, but it did look and smell pretty good. So she sat down and picked up the knife and fork.

Jenny pulled up a chair and sat in front of Verea. "Do you understand?"

Verea looked up from cutting her steak, "People would really kill me for this piece of equipment?"

"Yes its very valuable"

Verea stared intensely at Jenny and took her first bite of Brahmin.

"hmmm, pretty good! What kind of spice did you use?"

"We didn't"

Verea shrugged and took another bite, it was too tasty to question further.

"You know In all the excitement I never got your name."

Verea looked up but didn't answer for her mouth was full. Then she swallowed. And then she spoke, "Verea, Verea from Nowhere" she poked her fork at Jenny "Got that?"

"You're not from a Vault, how foolish of me!" Jenny said with a wink.

Verea nodded and went back to her steak but made a mental note to keep an eye on Jenny Stahl.

"So Jenny what's your story? What do you think of Megaton?"

"Some people hate it here, which I suppose is their right. I mean, what the hell do people want out of life. Food, shelter, and safety, Works for me."

"I suppose you have to take what you can get."

"Its not much but I have a good life here and a good job."

"Wish I could say the same thing.

"What's that mean?"

"It doesn't matter. What is a Brahmin anyway?"

Jenny pointed to the other side of the crater. "That's a Brahmin"

Verea looked where she was pointing. On the other side of the crater was a creature that looked something like a cow but is brown, uglier, and had two heads.

"moo"

"THAT"S what I'm eating? A two-headed cow!"

"Yep"

Part of her wanted to throw away the steak, but then she realized she had eaten the meat of a gigantic cockroach, why should a two-headed cow be any different. So Verea went back to eating. Another customer came up to the Brass Lantern so Jenny had to attend to that and left Verea alone.

Realizing she was burning daylight, Verea quickly polished off the steak and Nuka-Cola. After given Jenny a good-bye handshake she departed the Brass Lantern.

(U)

Verea checked her Pip-boy once again. There was still a few hours till sundown. Good. She still had some things to do. First off she needed to offload some of her loot. She did sell some to Moira but she ran out of caps, besides she wanted to get away from that way too cheerful woman.

"Craterside Supply couldn't be the only store in this town" She looked up the sides of the town and saw some buildings that she hadn't gotten a good look at. One of could be a store.

As Verea started to ascend the catwalks, a red ball landed at her feet, as she picked it up, a little girl stopped in front of her. She was wearing a whitist outfit, denim skirt, and headband.

"Excuse me ma'am but that's my ball"

Without a word Verea tossed it back to the girl

"Thank you miss! I'm Maggie!" she said with a smile.

Verea removed her helmet and smiled back at Maggie. "My name's Verea" she then kneeled in front off Maggie.

"Say Maggie, since I gave you your ball back maybe you could help me out a little bit. Do you know of any merchants other than Craterside Supply around here?"

"Well, Craterside Supply is the general store of Megaton, you can find almost anything there. But most of the other shops are up there" She pointed at one of the upper walks of the town. "They're pretty fun to visit"

"Thank you very much" and with that Maggie darted away to play.

"Nice kid"

As she was walking up the numerous ramps to the place Maggie directed Verea checked her pip-boy. She had numerous raider gear and several other things and she could feel all of it weighing her down. Even though it's mass may have been converted into data, its weight was distributed over her entire body, as a result she felt a few hundred pounds heavier. But it was nothing she couldn't handle.

(O)

At the top of the walkways were several small buildings. Verea stopped at the first one,

It was a small building that seemed to have been built out of car panels. Out side was what looked like a mail slot, and a sign that read "SKINS" the sign seemed to have been cut from an animal hide of some sort.

"Three guesses as to what this place deals in"

As it turns out, Verea was half right. Indeed the store dealt in hides of various animals. But there were also rolls of fabric and clothes all over the place hanging on the walls. A strange odor seemed to roll from the back of the store.

A rather large woman with broad shoulders was minding the register, currently counting out caps. After hearing Verea enter instead of greeting her she quickly shoved all of the caps under the counter.

"Hello and Welcome to SKINS, your source for skins in Megaton, my name is Lisa, how may I help you?"

"Uh Yes, My name is Verea, I assume you are a tailor?"

"Actually my husband Charlie is the tailor. I am the tanner. The one who tans hides of animals to make into workable material." She added seeing the look of confusion on Verea's face. "So are looking for some new clothes, though those thread seem pretty nice" gesturing to Verea's Vault security armor.

"Actually I am here to sell, interested?"

"Sigh, show me what you have I only buy clothes and hides though."

Verea summoned here raider armor except for one and a business suit she had found in Springvale. As Lisa examined her potential merchandise, Verea looked around the shop. This couple seemed to make everything involved in cloth and fabric. In addition to shirts and pants and jackets, there were gloves, curtains, socks, packs, hats and what even looked like underwear. There were shoes for sale but they looked pre made. Finally there were simple rolls of cloth and skin. What caught her attention though was a bunch of green skin folded in several stacks.

"Hey what's this green stuff?"

Lisa looked up from Verea's goods. "That's super mutant skin, pretty valuable stuff, being so hard to get.

"What's it used for?"

"It's too thick to make into clothes, but it makes a great poncho or chew toy. It has great industrial applications. This building is lined with the stuff, and we've never had a leak nor has any dust gotten in.

"Sweet, anyway how much for the stuff?"

"We can take the materials from the armor and scrap the armor plates. And of course the suit is pretty good shape. 400 caps for all of it."

"500" replied Verea

"No way honey but since I'm in good mood. I will give you 400 and a 10% discount when you come in next time."

"Fine" said Verea

Lisa handed over the agreed amount of caps and a small piece of paper certifying her discount.

(*)

The next store from skins was a small grocery store simply called food store selling food and chems, managed by a man named Simon. Simon turned out to be a bit if a grouch and was a pretty hard sell but Verea managed to sell some of her food from the Super Duper Mart for a few stimpaks. She tried to sell the some of the glowing Quantum she found but he nearly banned from his store for bringing it up.

The next store appeared to be a hardware store of some kind but the sign said closed. Everything seemed to be settling down for the night so Verea decided to hunker down for the night, she had had a long day.

The only place that seemed to be staying awake was Moriarty's Saloon. When Verea entered the bar, the place was still kind of calm, but she could tell it would heat up soon.

"Hey Gob"

"Hey Smoothskin, I'll tell you its good to see a friendly face.

"Likewise, say Gob do you know where I can stay for the night?"

"Several places you can stay. There's the common house where the town's vagrant population stays. That's for free. For fancier accomadations you can go to the Epicenter Inn on the other side of town, that's rather pricy. Or you could stay here for 100 caps, 120 if you want Nova's "special services".

"I'll stay here and I won't need "service" thank you. Hundred you say?"

Gob nodded, so Verea handed 100 caps to him and he handed her a key.

"Room A1, top of the stairs."

"Thanks"

(^&)

Upon arriving in her room, Verea quickly shed her armor and stored them in her Pip-boy. She then proceeded to collapse on the bed. She could hear all of the ribble rabble downstairs in the saloon, and she could hear Nova, "entertaining" a customer.

"With all this noise I may never get to sleep"

Five minutes later Verea the Commando was dead to the world.

(*)

Sorry for the long wait. Homework's a pain

Be sure to review!


End file.
